


Tangled Webs

by DarkSorceressofLight



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I would like to see Team Flash deal with a kid wanting to use their powers, Kid!Fic, because it seems weird that so far the only metas have been adults
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 17:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18035825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSorceressofLight/pseuds/DarkSorceressofLight
Summary: When Ralph confronts the youngest Team Flash member the powers she's been hiding, Parker has to confess she's been moonlighting despite the ever-present danger of DeVoe.





	1. Confession Time (Parker's POV)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Flash or any of its characters. Parker is my creation, sparked from an idea of wanting to see how Team Flash would handle taking a teenage superhero under their wing.

"Hey," Barry touched Parker’s shoulder gently, "why don't you head home? We still have a couple of hours of clean up to do and you have that history test tomorrow." Parker nodded and shut her binder, shoving it in her bag. She noted it was four-thirty - about her usual patrol time. “I’ll run you home.”

"Nah, I've got band practice anyway. Jo said they would meet me at Jitters. Thanks anyway." She noted with relief the team accepted the excuse. Only Ralph looked a little suspicious, but she figured it was because she was the youngest and a non-meta.

Supposedly, at least.

Barry insisted on running her to an alley around the corner of Jitters. As soon as he left though, she breathed a sigh of relief and tugged off her bag. Ducking behind a dumpster, she pulled off her coat and stripped down to her leggings and cami top. Shivering in the late fall air, she pulled out a white and black suit, a prototype Cisco tossed for Ralph's new suit. It was still too loose in places, but it fits what she needed to do well enough. It was even warmer than the cobbled together suit she started out with a few months ago.

She put her backpack on and pulled out her phone. Metal would do nicely for this patrol. Letting the sounds of Godsmack bang in her ears, she pulled her mask down. It’d been a good day for Team Flash. Hopefully, that luck would bleed into her patrol. Afterward, maybe she could even set herself up in a construction area for some quiet reading. She smiled at the prospect. Pointing her web-slinger at the top of the building, she launched herself from the ground and started her patrol.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parker sighed as her web hammock swung gently in the breeze. It had turned out to be a decent patrol. She caught a robbery in progress, webbed up the baddies, and deposited them in front of the police station. She was in even better luck that Captain Singh was the one who saw her. Joe would've probably recognized the jacket.

Then she webbed up some asshole who tried to steal a kid's bike, helped someone with directions, and walked an elderly lady across the street. That lady also ended up buying her a sandwich as thanks. Now she found herself a nice spot at the top of the new office building under construction, studying for her history exam, with a great view of the sunset.

"Gotta say, you found yourself a pretty great view, kiddo." Parker looked up from her studying, confused and alarmed. There was only one person she allowed to call her "kiddo". Not even Barry could get away with it. She looked all around but didn't spot Ralph. It wasn't until she heard him stretching on her left that she found him walking across the platform towards her. He was obviously trying not to look down. "Take it you're not afraid of heights?"

"Never," she admitted softly. "How much trouble am I in?"

"Depends." He gestured towards the web hammock and she nodded. He stretched himself slowly onto the hammock, making sure it would hold both their weights. Parker wasn't worried; her webbing was stronger than spider silk. Silk…maybe that could be her codename... "Does the team know you were even on that bus that morning?" he asked, breaking her from his thoughts. She picked at a stray thread on her jacket.

"No," she whispered. Guilt and shame filled her again at the lie she'd been telling her family for months. She knew Devoe was searching for all the bus metas and she should've told the team what really happened that day. Risking a glance at Ralph, she saw his expression said the same thing.

"What were you doing on that bus that morning?" he asked gently.

"That was the morning everyone was trying to get Barry out of the Speedforce." She glanced at Ralph, who nodded for her to continue. "I wanted to be there, but Joe made me go to school nonetheless. Said it was better if I just went to keep my mind off what was going on. But I couldn't stop thinking of being able to see Barry again, so after homeroom, I kinda..."

"Ditched?" Ralph supplied gently. Parker nodded. "And hoofed it to the nearest bus stop and tried to sneak on?"

"I forgot my money pouch at home." She caught his eye for a moment and smiled crookedly, remembering the drunk/hungover guy that paid for her fare and let her sit at the window so no creeps bothered her. "I still owe you three dollars, huh?"

"Buy me a coffee and we're even," he joked. "And the powers?"

"There was a spider crawling on your bag when you were dozing. I meant to get it off, but the bus jerked and the spider bit me just as dark matter flooded in."

"Whaaaat?" Ralph gasped. "You mean you actually got bit by a radioactive spider?" Parker giggled and nodded. "Oooh, I'm so jealous! Wait, what happened to the spider?" Parker cringed.

"Accidentally squished it." Ralph's lips curled up, disgusted for a moment. A question burned in her mind and before she could stop herself, the words slipped out. "How did you find me?"

"When Barry and Iris had me hypnotized, I remembered you a little more clearly," he explained. "At first, I thought you were being a teenager about school and quitting the band, but your routine became a little too predictable" he pulled out his phone and pulled up a YouTube clip of the mystery spider meta swinging past and waving. Parker noted it was taken a couple of months ago, shortly after her powers manifested. "Coupled with the routine of that mysterious spider meta swinging around, it didn’t take long to put it together." Parker handed him back his phone.

"That doesn't explain how you found me." Ralph gestured at the webbing to the building.

"You leave a trail, kiddo." She blushed and picked at her backpack again. He nudged her to get her to look up. His expression was worried, bordering on panic. "An extremely easy one too. If I could follow you halfway across Central City, what makes you think Devoe couldn't either? The man had a flying chair and is now taking over metas. It would be terrifyingly easy for him and we wouldn't know until it was too late."

Tears burned behind her eyes as she turned away to stare at the bay. She knew the risk she was taking not telling. But she wanted to help her city like her friends. Then when she realized the juggling act between school and superhero, she knew she couldn't tell them just yet. Then came the comments about the spider meta, the video clips, and the mystery behind the spider mask. The lies just continued stacking up and when the team realized Devoe was tracking the bus metas, she was in way too deep. So she kept moonlighting and swinging and ignoring the ever-creeping danger of Devoe and breaking everyone's heart.

Sniffling, she wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I'm sorry," she whispered. “Even though I knew lying about being on the bus would have disappointed everyone, I thought that if I could prove how good of a superhero I am, they wouldn't yell at me." She scrubbed at the tears that kept falling. "By the time we knew Devoe's intentions, I was in too deep. I just wanted to ignore the danger and keep doing what I was doing."

With a heavy sigh, Ralph reached up and wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders in a hug. "I get it. I know what it's like to feel you live in someone’s shadow and want to prove yourself." He rested his chin on top of her head and sighed. "And the thing is, you have. I've seen the footage. You help people and relate to them. They love you, way more than Elongated Man." Parker looked up, surprised to hear the bitterness in his voice.

"People think you're cool too, Ralph," she insisted. "I think it's cool how you can stretch and stuff." Ralph grinned, looking both surprised and pleased at the compliment. She sighed, staring at the sunset. "They’re going to be pretty pissed, huh?"

"Oh, no doubt.” At the dejected slump of her shoulders, he hugged her again. "But I withheld crucial bus meta information too. I'll take on some of that anger for you." She looked up, surprised.

"Really?"

"Really. I can take it. Besides, we're a team now, right? I'll stand beside you." Parker grinned and hugged Ralph tightly around the middle. He laughed softly. Noting the sun was pretty much set, he pulled back. "Come on, break down this webbing and we'll pick up some Big Belly Burger to sweeten their tempers."

"Are we going to drive there?" she asked, packing up her stuff. Ralph scoffed and put his mask back on.

"When we have a faster mode of travel? There's a Big Belly on the corner of 31st and Park. Race ya there?"

She grinned wider and pulled her mask down and hood up. "Best swinger pays for dinner?" she asked, spider-crawling up the metal frame. She didn’t notice Ralph’s grimace, her mind on her growling stomach. That sandwich was a good three hours ago; a Big Belly Triple Decker with large fries sounded like heaven about now.

"Yeah, I could go with that. Ready...set..."

"Ralph?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not just my teammate. You're my big brother too." For the third time that evening, she was surprised at her own admissions. While they were genuine fears and feelings, she had a hard time expressing them and usually resorted to some sort of action rather than words. She wasn’t ready to face the emotional war of telling the team she’d been lying, much less tell Ralph how much she looked up to him. But here they were.

She stole a glance at him and was glad that her mask completely covered her face. Even behind his eye mask, he was surprised and touched at the admission. Clearing his throat, he nodded. She could see his eyes glistening a bit, but he hid it behind a playful wink. “You might soon regret giving me that title, kiddo.”

She lifted her mask enough to stick her tongue out. "You gotta catch me first. Ready...set...GO!"


	2. Confession Time (Ralph POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same conversation from Ralph's point of view, plus how he figured out Parker's secret.

“-still have a couple of hours of clean up to do and you have that history test tomorrow.” Ralph looked up as he and Cisco walked into the Cortex from training. Parker was shoving her homework in her backpack as Barry offered to run her home. Her eyes shifted to the clock on the screen briefly then shook her head.

“Nah, I’ve got band practice. Jo said they would meet me at Jitters. Thanks anyway.” The team seemed to agree with the statement, but Ralph looked at her with suspicion. Parker told him she’d quit the band because the pressure to keep up her grades was too much. He only remembered because he offered to help her with her history. She’d taken him up on it and came to him whenever she needed it.

Why was she lying about a school activity she’d dropped?

“At least let me run you there,” Barry insisted, pulling Ralph from his thoughts. Parker agreed on that and waved as she left on Barry’s footsteps.

Leaning against the wall, he let the others provide a backdrop as they bounced around ideas to stop DeVoe as he thought over Parker. Ever since he’d gotten to know the kid, he’d known she was a good kid. Good student, funny sense of humor, compassionate, and still somehow managed to have an innocence with how dark the world could be.

But the past couple of months, Parker had become… _shifty._ At first, he figured it was because she was a teenager. Teenagers were shifty and did stupid shit. Several of his P.I. cases had been going after missing teens, only to find them two counties over, getting in over their head. Skipping school, drinking, and keeping secrets was what a lot of teenagers did. He was willing to let Parker be a little shifty and let Joe know if he thought she was getting in over her head.

When Parker’s shiftiness took on a pattern, he took notice.

First, it was remembering Black Bison when he’d been hypnotized. He’d also remembered a teenage girl failing to sneak on board the bus. At the time, she seemed frantic enough that he took pity and came up with a bullshit story of her being his niece and taking her to school. He added her fee to his IOU and made her take the seat next to the window.

Then Parker started leaving the Cortex at four-thirty nearly every afternoon. She cited band practice, study group, library trip, other “good kid” excuses that everyone – including him - fell for. It didn’t take long for her to start looking exhausted and overwhelmed. She struggled with her grades. He once spotted a bruise covering an eighth of her back and ribs, but she waved it off as running into the door. One morning she came in, rolling her shoulders as though she was sore from running track.

She wasn’t in track.

“She quit the band,” he mumbled around his thumbnail, not realizing he was thinking out loud.

“What was that, Ralph?” Ralph’s head snapped up so fast, he felt his neck stretch oddly. Grimacing, he set his neck back to a normal position and found the team staring at him expectantly.

“What was what?” he asked.

“What did you say?” Barry repeated, having run back from dropping off Parker a while ago. Ralph glanced at the clock on the screen: 3:30 pm. Parker had been gone for thirty minutes.

“Sorry, zoned out thinking about a case,” he said truthfully. Barry was about to question him more when the Corex alarm blared.

Iris ran to her console, finding the source of the alarm. “Robbery in progress at 31st and Collins,” she reported. Before even Barry could do anything, the alarms stopped and Iris was staring at the screen, confused.

“What is it?” Barry asked, leaning over her shoulder. Ralph moved to look over Cisco’s as he pulled up the camera in front of a pawn shop. Everyone watched as a black and white hooded figure swung into the scene and _webbed_ the two would-be robbers. The meta was small and agile, easily lifting the robbers and carrying them off the CCPD.

“Local spider-meta got there first,” Cisco said, impressed.

“Still can’t get a beat on them?” Barry asked. Cisco shook his head.

"Nothing. I scoured the records of all the metas that popped up on my alerts since the accelerator explosion. None of them have Spider-Man capabilities.”

“Maybe they came in from a different city?” Caitlin asked, but Cisco was already shaking his head again.

“Nope. I extended my search to meta DNA as far as New York and Arizona. Nothing.” He gestured to the screen. “This kid just came out of nowhere and started doing small-time hero stuff.”

Ralph blinked and straightened. “You mean this meta hasn’t been around before?” he asked. The others turned toward him, looking mildly shocked that he asked.

“No,” Caitlin said softly. “They only showed up a month or so after the bus accident.” She looked at Cisco. “Maybe another bus meta?” Cisco shook his head.

“Only nine people were on that bus. Unless…”

“Unless there was a tenth person we missed on that bus,” Harry finished. “We need to go over the bus footage and records again.”

Ralph stared at the blurry screenshot of a familiar white and black suit, accent with a gray hooded jacket. His mind whirled as he arranged and pieced together his thoughts. The teenager on that bus…Parker being shifty…leaving the Cortex at a certain time…the spider-meta showing up in cameras thirty minutes later…Parker coming in with bruises and exhausted the next day…Parker lying about band practice…

As everything clicked into place, ice-cold panic flooded Ralph’s veins. Straightening up too quickly, he tripped over his feet and stretched to catch himself on the floor. Cisco reached to help him, but he brushed it off and stretched his arm to grab his jacket.

“Ralph, what’s wrong? You okay?” Barry asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Ralph waved off as he backed towards the door. “Just might’ve figured out something with my case and I need to hit up a couple of contacts. I’ll check in later. Bye!”  

Forgoing the elevator, he found the stairs and stretched himself up to the level needed for the parking lot. Once he made it to his car, he pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 3:40 pm. He needed to track down Parker, but first, he needed to make sure he was right.

Or in this case, hope he was wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Ralph stared up in awe at the partially constructed skyscraper. Pulling off his mask and shielding his eyes from the setting sun, he could see what looked like a hammock of some sort constructed between two steel support beams, swinging gently in the breeze.

It turned out he was right after all. While it took him an hour to track down some shady contacts who came across the spider-meta, it took a far shorter time to figure out where Parker had gone. All he had to do after was follow the trail of webbing she made. _Okay, so it wasn’t that easy_ , he amended to himself as he began to stretch himself onto the skyscraper. He did run into a lot of old webbing in alleyways and over buildings. It was still terrifying how easily he could track her down.

It would take DeVoe only minutes.

Shaking that thought from his head, he instead focused on the teenager he was confronting. Barry would go for a lecture, Harry would start yelling, and Joe would be disappointed. Parker would shut down at every single turn and continue moonlighting. He would have to handle this his way.

At least she had good taste in scenic landscapes for heart-to-hearts.

“Gotta say, you found yourself a pretty great view, kiddo.” Parker’s shadow moved as she tried to find the source of his voice. Both knew it was him; he was the only person Parker allowed to call her “kiddo”. Forcing himself to not look down, he stretched himself up onto the support platform next to her hammock. “Take it you’re not afraid of heights?”

“Never,” Parker admitted softly. “How much trouble am I in?”

"Depends." He gestured towards the web hammock and she nodded. He stretched himself slowly onto the hammock, making sure it would hold both their weights. Parker didn’t seem worried, but he’d flipped too many hammocks to be cautious. "Does the team know you were on that bus?" he asked, settling himself on the other side. She picked at a stray thread on her jacket.

"No," she whispered. Ralph watched as guilt and shame filled her. He didn’t have to be a psychic to know she knew with DeVoe looking for the bus metas, she should’ve told the team. She risked a glance at him, then looked away, unable to keep eye contact for long.

"What were you doing on that bus that morning?" he asked gently.

"That was the morning everyone was trying to get Barry out of the Speedforce." She glanced at Ralph again, who nodded for her to continue. "I wanted to be there, but Joe made me go to school, nonetheless. Said it was better if I just went to keep my mind off what was going on. But I couldn't stop thinking of being able to see Barry again, so after homeroom, I kinda..."

"Ditched?" Ralph supplied. Parker nodded. "And hoofed it to the nearest bus stop and tried to sneak on?"

"I forgot my money pouch at home." She caught his eye for a moment and smiled crookedly. Ralph smirked as she recalled the memory.  "I still owe you three dollars, huh?"

"Buy me a coffee and we're even," he joked. "And the powers?"

"There was a spider crawling on your bag when you were dozing. I meant to get it off, but the bus jerked and the spider bit me just as dark matter flooded in."

"Whaaaat?" Ralph gasped. "You mean you actually got bit by a radioactive spider?" Parker giggled and nodded. "Oooh, I'm so jealous! Wait, what happened to the spider?" Parker cringed.

"Accidentally squished it." Ralph's lips curled up, disgusted for a moment. "How did you find me?"

"When Barry and Iris had me hypnotized, I remembered you a little more clearly," he explained. "At first, I thought you were being a teenager about school and quitting the band, but your routine became a little too predictable" he pulled out his phone and pulled up a YouTube clip of the mystery spider meta swinging past and waving. Parker noted it was taken a couple of months ago, shortly after her powers manifested. "Coupled with the routine of that mysterious spider meta swinging around, it didn’t take long to put it together." Parker handed him back his phone.

"That doesn't explain how you found me." Ralph gestured at the webbing to the building.

"You leave a trail, kiddo." She blushed and picked at her backpack again. He nudged her to get her to look up. His expression was worried, bordering on panic. "An extremely easy one too. If I could follow you halfway across Central City, what makes you think Devoe couldn't either? The man had a flying chair and is now taking over metas. It would be terrifyingly easy for him and we wouldn't know until it was too late."

Parker fell silent, tears threatening to fall as she sat up to look at the bay. Ralph gave her some space to think and get her words together. When she wiped her nose on her sleeve, he sat up and waited for her to talk.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. “Even though I knew lying about being on the bus would have disappointed everyone, I thought that if I could prove how good of a superhero I am, they wouldn't yell at me." She scrubbed at the tears that kept falling. "By the time we knew Devoe's intentions, I was in too deep. I just wanted to ignore the danger and keep doing what I was doing."

With a heavy sigh, Ralph reached up and wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders in a hug. "I get it. I know what it's like to feel you live in someone’s shadow and want to prove yourself." He rested his chin on top of her head and sighed. "And the thing is, you have. I've seen the footage. You help people and relate to them. They love you, way more than Elongated Man." Parker looked up, surprised to hear the bitterness in his voice.

"People think you're cool too, Ralph," she insisted. "I think it's cool how you can stretch and stuff." Ralph grinned, looking both surprised and pleased at the compliment. She sighed, staring at the sunset. "They’re going to be pretty pissed, huh?"

"Oh, no doubt.” At the dejected slump of her shoulders, he hugged her again. "But I withheld crucial bus meta information too. I'll take on some of that anger for you." She looked up, surprised.

"Really?"

"Really. I can take it. Besides, we're a team now, right? I'll stand beside you." Parker grinned and hugged Ralph tightly around the middle. He laughed softly. Noting the sun was pretty much set, he pulled back. "Come on, break down this webbing and we'll pick up some Big Belly Burger to sweeten their tempers."

"Are we going to drive there?" she asked, packing up her stuff. Ralph scoffed and put his mask back on.

"When we have a faster mode of travel? There's a Big Belly on the corner of 31st and Park. Race ya there?"

She grinned wider and pulled her mask down and hood up. "Best swinger pays for dinner?" she asked, spider-crawling up the metal framework. Ralph grimaced, pulling his own mask back over his eyes. Parker didn’t quite understand the double innuendo as she found the right jump-off point. Once tempers cooled, he and Cisco would have to work on some more appropriate Web-Slinger terminology.

"Yeah, I could go with that. Ready...set..."

"Ralph?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not just my teammate. You're my big brother too."

Ralph blinked, feeling like the air had been punched from his chest. His lungs felt like they were squeezed as a long-forgotten emotion bubbled up inside him. It had been a long time since he felt like he belonged somewhere. Clearing his throat, he nodded, not trusting his voice for a moment. “You might soon regret giving me that title, kiddo,” he finally said.

He chuckled when she lifted her mask enough to stick her tongue out at him. “You gotta catch me first. Ready…set…GO!”


End file.
